Being shuttled around

What a day for the project - hopefully. My whole day was meetings with people to discuss the project and who I might be able to interview. Dharamsala is a small community and it's all about networking. Lobsang Dechen at Dorma Ling got me a meeting with the secretary of the Tibetan Woman's Association tomorrow, and also got me in the door at the Tibetan Library, where the director gave me some advice about finding interviewees who speak English and sent me to the government's Department of Information and International Relations, where I also have a meeting tomorrow. He also said to speak to the Prime Minister, and I was like, "Seriously, I can make an appointment with the Tibetan PM [in exile]?"

Lhakdor: "Yes, yes, of course."

Me: "I couldn't get an appointment with the President of the United States.

Lhakdor: "We are a smaller government. You can get an appointment with him."

This is the Tibetan Parliament Building. So, yeah, they're small.

It takes some shmoozing and name-dropping at each office to show that I'm not totally lost in what I'm doing (I'm just mostly lost and yes I am winging it) and that I know a lot about Tibetan history for a Westerner so maybe this is something feasible. So, two appointments lined up tomorrow, at least one which could feasibly go somewhere, and then another when the Prime Minister gets back from America.

I also visited Norbulingka, which is a weird sort of mix of institute/museum/temple/guest house/nature preserve. I've been there before, but this time I spent a lot of time talking to the thangka painters, who are as far as thangka painters go pretty much the top level. They do official paintings for the government or the Dalai Lama himself. Again, once they figured out that I knew what I was talking about because I really have been taking classes, they could answer very specific questions about technique and I probably shouldn't mention this, but they gave me some free painting supplies that would cost more money in America than I want to post about but are acquired in bulk in India.

Another thing that was a surprise at Norbulingka was that there was no one around and I very obviously wandered into the Dalai Lama's private audience rooms for when he's visiting . monastery there. And I'm not going to say I sat down on the throne. That would be wrong. It would be wrong to admit it. Plus it's more of a couch anyway.

The Dalai Lama's throne is higher than other thrones. This is a big deal in Tibetan Buddhism.

Today I ate momos, the Tibetan staple for Westerners, which are basically wontons. It's dough. They put something in it, wrap it up, and fry it. Serve warm, maybe in soup. Not very complicated. The same as dumplings and wontons and kreplach, depending on what you put in it. The real Tibetan staple is dried tsampa (cooked barley grains) dunked in salty butter tea and scooped back out with your finger, but it rarely appears on menus because it's apparently terrible. It's also hard to get dri butter (a dri is a female yak) in India.

Tibetan vegetarian momos with soy sauce. Meh.

Most of my purchasing beyond taxis and food seems to be done unless I travel, which is for the best. I bought almost all of the backer rewards for my Kickstarter project to get that out of the way. I'm volunteering at the Lha Social Work organization. I haven't had time to start a job at the Tibet Post because I've been so busy with meetings, but I have been teaching at English conversation classes that are at a good time of the day, right before dinner and sundown, when it gets cold. The class is swamped despite all the volunteers; Tibetans really, really want to learn English. Some of them just came over a few years ago and some of them have lived in India all of their lives, but English is the gateway to financial success, so everyone wants to know it. For many Tibetans it's also a common language, because Tibetans raised in actual Tibet sometimes only know Chinese when they go into exile and can't speak Tibetan.

And with that I am exhausted, and need to go to bed as soon as I can sort the various notes I took today.

Also, It's Very Cold Here At Night

Live from Dharamsala

The internet is a little unreliable, but I am posting from Dharamsala after three days of traveling. I'm up at 7:30 am because my body is very confused but I don't intend to correct it. It's very cool here, and by that I mean it's freezing at night. I'm going to rent a space heater. I know it makes me look like a wuss but I'm going to do it so I don't have to wear my winter jacket to bed.

I can see the Himalayas from my house!

Otherwise things here are very nice. I think I found a nice place. Yesterday Noah from my volunteer organization was explaining that I had to remember to lock the windows and door all the time because of "monks."
Me: "You mean bugs, right?"
Noah: "No. Monks."
Me: "You must mean bugs." (even though it isn't that buggy here)
Noah. "Not bugs. Monks."
Me: "You're telling me monks will get in here and mess up all my stuff ... do you mean MONKEYS?"
Noah: "Yes, monkeys."
Me: "Because I don't know how monks would fit through the window."

And we had a good laugh about that.

To be fair there are a lot of monks, though some of them are nuns.

Up for today: Renting a cell phone, getting in contact with friends who will help get the project going, figure out what I'm doing at the Tibet Post maybe. Also I bet I'll get lost a bunch of times even though McLeod-Ganj is tiny because there's no street signs. It's already happened twice.

I don't know why this video came out smooshed and red. There's some settings to change but I didn't have time to figure it out. Too busy packing. I'm sure when my body is up at 4 in the morning in Delhi because it doesn't know what time it is or where I am, I'll have more time to work on settings.



Other news:
- Shabbos in Dharamsala this week is at 6:05 pm IST.
- I am very tired.

That is all.

Packing

Since packing is the most interesting thing in the world, I'll post about it.

Over the past week, after a long virus, I've been picking up random things that I need for traveling as I think of them, because some of them are cheaper on the internet and shipping takes time.

From my personal accounts:

- typhoid vaccine

- anti-malarial pills

- new mezuzah scroll (ouch, $45? Suck)

- traveling Kiddish cup, because all of mine are glass or real silver

- cheap travel watch

From my Kickstarter money:

- plane ticket and travel insurance

- reservations for transportation from Delhi to Dharamsala on the 27th

- Visa

I have my on a camcorder, but being ill kinda prevented me from actually going to teh store and trying it out. Plus it needs an external mic and other accessories. For audio recording I'm fine with a computer and USB microphone.

VISA!!!

Yesterday I waited half an hour in the pouring rain, but I got my visa!

For security reasons I had to blur pretty much all of it, but there it is.

Generally when Americans travel, we don't have to obtain a visa beforehand. We just walk into the country and get our books stamped and sometimes we pay a visa fee on the spot. I didn't appreciate that until I went to India in 2009 and found out I had to go to the consulate's outsourcing center in Manhattan, or pay a lot of money to have it mailed and mailed back, and fill out a long form explaining what I was doing in India and what my contact information would be. The US is on fairly good terms with India, but India's not too thrilled about our relationship with Pakistan, so there's some bureaucratic to go through. If you're from friendlier-to-India countries like Sri Lanka or the Philippines, the costs are lower. I have to make an appointment a week ahead, fill out a form, provide proof of address and my passport, stand in a long line, submit my visa, then come back 2-3 days later and stand in another long line for the brief 1 1/2 hour window where they let you pick up your passport. India also won't let you take their money out of the country, so you can't change money at the bank ahead of time for better rates.

Some of this has to do, believe it or not, with our own stupidity during the Cold War. When everyone had to pick a side, India decided it wanted nothing to do with the whole thing (being socialist, not communist) and declared itself "neutral." The US decided that anybody who declared themselves "neutral" was as red as the Russian flag, so the US allied with Pakistan because Pakistan was in a constant state of near-war with India and we had to pick sides. Over time, these relationships have not panned out well for the US, but it's very hard to switch sides and have someone believe you. Also, we don't want to pull out of Pakistan and stop helping their military because we think, somewhat fairly, that if we did, they would slide further into an radical Islam and just outright help the Taliban in Afghanistan instead of doing it secretly. Also, the US does a lot of business with China, and China and India are kind of racing to see who will be the top economic powerhouse in Asia, so there's some tension there.

Some Indians have pointed out that if Tibet was independent, it would serve as a buffer zone between India and China with their border disputes, but they probably should have thought of that in 1950 when the Communists were invading and the Dalai Lama's government was begging for help. None was sent, though honestly, India probably couldn't have afforded to do so.

Update Video